News,Sports,Events,Entertainment,Technology,Health,Inspiration,Fashion and Gossip!

12.3.13

Bee Venom Kills HIV Virus

Researchers from Washington University
School of Medicine in St. Louis have shown that nanoparticles infused with a
toxic bee venom can kill HIV. The researchers hope to take this new compound
and develop a vaginal gel that can prevent the further spread of the disease.

The key to this discovery, which was made
by Samuel A. Wickline and his team at Washington University, involves cytolyic
melittin peptides. Melittin is found in bee venom, and it has the fortuitous
trait of being able to degrade the protective envelope that surrounds HIV.

For the experiment, Wickline’s team
prepared free melittin and melittin-loaded nanoparticles and set them against
various strains of HIV (CXCR4 and CCR5 in particular). The researchers then
showed that melittin, when delivered in these large and free accumulations, can
make life miserable for

the disease.

Moreover, these melittin-loaded
nanoparticles left the surrounding cells unharmed, which bodes well for the
development of a topical vaginal virucide. But this didn’t happen by accident.
The nanoparticles were endowed with a kind of filter that prevents healthy
cells from coming into contact with the toxin. HIV, on the other hand, is small
and it sifts through these filters, thus exposing it to the toxin.

Unlike other approaches, which work to
prevent HIV from replicating, Wickline’s technique involves the degradation of
the virus’s structure.

“We are attacking an inherent physical
property of HIV,” said Joshua L. Hood through a university statement, and a
co-author of the study. “Theoretically, there isn’t any way for the virus to
adapt to that. The virus has to have a protective coat, a double-layered
membrane that covers the virus.”

Interestingly, the concept behind the
melittin nanoparticle approach could conceivably work against other diseases,
including hepatitis B and C.

Eventually, the topical gel could be
combined with a spermicidal contraceptive and act as a kind of two-in-one
double-whammy. But for now, the researchers say that the nanoparticles are safe
for sperm, and will initially be intended for couples who are trying to
conceive.

And as for the study itself, it’s the first
proof-of-concept that the therapeutic and safe application of a
nanoparticle-mediated compound can combat HIV-1.